


Problematic Things

by InterruptingDinosaur



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Abed struggles with emotions, Britta brittas Secret Santa, Doctor Who References, F/M, The gang does Christmas gift exchange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-26
Updated: 2014-08-26
Packaged: 2018-02-14 22:29:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2205402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InterruptingDinosaur/pseuds/InterruptingDinosaur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She wasn't entirely sure how it all started, this whole business with Abed. For once, she wished she could have been more jaded or wiser. Maybe then, she wouldn't be an emotional mess every time he was in the room.  </p><p>(Or, Inspector Spacetime may not have gotten his happy ending, but Abed and Annie do.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Problematic Things

**Author's Note:**

> Cross posted from ff.net. Written pre-season 4.

She wasn't entirely sure how it all started, this whole business with Abed. She had stayed awake for a long time trying to unravel the exact moment she'd started to feel this way, but the metaphoric yarn-end eluded her. Maybe, it was during the moment in the library when he'd slipped into his Han Solo character, the paint pouring out of the spouts, coating them in orange until they were the same shade as Oompaloompas. Her inner romantic wanted to compare it to the perfect on-screen kisses of movies where the two characters would reunite in the rain; a perfect happily ever after.

But then, later, Abed made it very clear that he'd only been playing the role demanded by the situation, and she couldn't help but feel a little bit disappointed. She could just hear her Bubbe's voice in her head: "Annie, don't cry over who's not going to cry over you." And so, she swallowed whatever feelings of disillusionment, and quietly moved on while no one watched.

Almost everything returned to normal.

Almost.

* * *

One night, Abed had found her quietly crying in her room. She'd been curled up on her bed, wallowing in loneliness when there was a soft knock behind her. Turning, she was surprised to see him standing in the open entrance of her door, wearing the usual stoic expression on his face. She quickly wiped her face and attempted to speak normally, but only had her voice come out in a squeak. "Abed! What are you doing home?"

He cocked his head to the side as if the answer was obvious, and in hindsight, she realized that he lived the apartment too and could come and go as he pleased. "I was tired, but Troy still had tokens left," he said. A few weeks earlier, an arcade had opened downtown and since then, both Troy and Abed had spent most of their evenings trying to beat their own high scores.

"Oh," she said, still trying to wipe away the evidence of her emotional breakdown.

"Can I come in?"

"Yeah, I guess." She sat up and moved her legs to make room for him on the bed. He sat next to her, and for a few moments, they were silent.

"You were crying," he stated simply. "I don't want you to cry, but I don't really know how to comfort someone. When my mom used to cry, I was usually the reason." His tone remained constant, but his eyes were downcast, and she was reminded of Abed's breakdown the year his mother didn't visit during Christmas.

"Oh, Abed—"

"No," he said abruptly, holding out his hand to stop whatever she had to say next. "It's okay. I understand that I cause pain sometimes, but I don't always know how to stop it. In the movies, I would be the hero with a tragic past that makes the audience root for me, and it would push me towards the ultimate goal, whether it's avenging parents, or getting the girl, or sometimes, both."Annie blushed, though unsure of why the sudden reaction. He turned to look at her. "Britta says that talking about it usually helps."

 _It's nothing_ , she wanted to say, but she found that, with Abed, she didn't want to pretend to be fine. She took a deep breath, bracing herself, but also partly to find the right words to begin her story. Good narration was important to Abed. "Today is my dad's birthday. I had gone home to see him again, to tell him that I miss him and that I love him but…" she closed her eyes at the earlier memory. "When I got there, my step-mom said he didn't want to see me. She wouldn't even let me give him his present."

"Oh, you're upset again. Can I pat your back?"

"Can you hug me instead?" She felt his arm awkwardly curl around her shoulders, and she took it as an invitation to bury her face into his chest. He patted her stiffly, unsure of what to do with a crying girl pressed against him. After several minutes, she extracted herself. "Sorry," she whispered.

"It's fine," he said. He motioned behind her to the gift-wrapped package that was half-hidden under her pillow. "Is that your dad's present?"

"Was," she corrected as she grabbed it, and ripped the colourful paper open to reveal a sweater. "I've had this ever since I got kicked out. I bought it before I checked into rehab, but I never had the chance to give it to him." She held it out wistfully. "It matched his eyes."

"Yours too," Abed said quickly. She gaped at him. "I mean, it matches your eyes too. You have blue eyes." He hesitantly reached out to touch the fabric and found it was as soft as it looked. "It's…nice" he finished lamely.

"You can have it," Annie said, pushing the sweater into his lap. "It's probably too big on you, but you can do whatever you want with it. I'm sick of it, but if I keep it, I'll never throw it away."

"Cool." He gave one of his brief smiles -a quick twist of his lips- before returning back his unreadable expression, and she found herself smiling back at him.

They said goodnight, and he got up to go back to his blanket fort, taking his unexpected gift with him. Annie was left alone again, but feeling inexplicably lighter.

* * *

Annie had come early on a cold and grey day due to a prank that had let loose the live experiments of the Biology lab; the experiments had then subsequently overrun the college. Walking through the front door, she'd gone about three steps when she stopped. Abed was sitting in his usual chair with a bowl of Lucky Charms and watching rerun episodes of _Inspector Spacetime_ , except he was wearing the blue sweater she'd given him. It was too big for him; he had the sleeves pushed up so that he could eat his cereal, but strangely enough, it seemed to suit him. For some reason, she tried to imagine Jeff wearing the same thing, but failed. Abed paused the TV and turned to face her. "Class was cancelled," he deduced.

She nodded. "How did you know?"

"It's Tuesday, which means you would have your Hospital Management class before noon, and you never skip." She was touched that he'd memorized her schedule. "That, plus Troy texted earlier. Something about giant rats chasing after him."

She couldn't help but laugh. Troy's fear of rodents was hardly a secret, especially when Annie and Abed lived with him. Troy still couldn't sit through _Stuart Little_ or _The Great Mouse Detective,_ and just last month, he'd jumped up on a chair, put a colander on his head, and armed himself with a boom when he thought he heard a mouse squeaking. As it turns out, the sound was from stretching springs of the upstairs neighbour's bed.

Sitting down in the chair next to Abed, she pulled off her coat. "You're wearing my sweater."

He looked down. "Yeah, I was cold, and this is warm. Did you want me to take it off?" he asked, unsure if he'd just broken some social rule about sweaters that he was unaware of.

"No," she quickly exclaimed. "I was just surprised. I thought that you would throw it into a drawer and never think of it again."

"It was a gift from you. Why would I do that?" he asked.

"Because…" she stopped, not sure of what she'd really expected. Shaking her head, she said, "never mind. It's just nice to see that someone appreciates it."

"Cool. Cool, cool, cool."

"Here, let me." she put his empty cereal bowl on the coffee table and reached for his sleeves, rolling them until they stopped comfortably at his wrist. Her fingers were cold; his skin was so warm when she touched him. She stopped to admire him, sitting there with the ridiculous sweater, and when she looked down, she found that she was still holding his hand. More surprisingly, she liked the way it made her feel: warm and content. She stroked her thumb against his, and they both watched their hands, as if not quite believing what was going on.

"This is nice," Abed said suddenly. She agreed.

There were sudden sounds of the door opening and closing that signaled Troy's noisy arrival. Annie quickly let go of Abed's hand, both immediately pretending nothing unusual had just happened, though her face was probably turning a bright shade of pink; Abed's own expression was impassible. Luckily, Troy was oblivious and immediately launched into a story about the giant killer rats that were after him, waving his arms above his head for extra emphasis. She ducked into the kitchen to calm herself, and neither she nor Abed spoke to each other for the rest of the afternoon.

But, later that night, when they were watching a movie and while Troy was cheering at the screen, Annie had glanced over at Abed and found that he was looking back at her.

* * *

After that, she couldn't help but feel constantly aware of Abed's presence. She tried so hard to stop it, trying to examine the reasons of why she would feel that way, but every time, she could only come up with the fact that he made her happy and confused. He didn't judge her, nor did he ever make her feel immature or inexperienced. He was just… Abed.

While in rehab, Annie had been once told that she loved too easily, trusted people too deeply, and craved affection from those who paid the smallest bit of attention to her. Examining her own life, she supposed it was true: the friends and crushes during high school, her parents, and even Jeff. They all let her down in the end, and somehow, she was always the one feeling like it was her fault. Once she'd realized that Jeff was just another shallow crush, she was finally content to be friends with him and the study group without yearning for more. But now, with Abed, she wasn't sure if this was another silly infatuation because he'd been kind to her, or if it was because she'd never really seen him there before.

For once, she wished she could have been more jaded or wiser. Maybe then, she wouldn't be an emotional mess every time Abed was in the room.

* * *

"How about this one?"

"No. I've only ever seen you wear that one once. Plus, you remind me of Juno when you wear it— minus the pregnancy, of course."

Annie didn't speak for a moment; she was focused on Abed's hand which was currently pointed at the striped shirt she was holding. At some point, she'd developed a fascination with his hands, and she found herself wanting to hold them again, maybe actually let his hand warm hers.

She mentally shook herself free of that thought, trying not to let it show as she threw it into the appropriate box. The two of them were sitting in her room, sorting through her closet for old clothes to donate to charity. She'd brought up cardboard boxes that she'd found behind the building and Abed had offered his help when she told him of her plans. Troy, on the other hand, had left the apartment, mentioning something about a football game at Jeff's place, leaving the two of them alone.

"Yes for the red shirt. No for the grey one."

Annie reached in her closet for more. "Thanks so much for helping. I never know what to keep." She held up another shirt. "How about this one? It doesn't fit me properly, though."

"Then why do you still keep it?"

"Someone gave it to me, and I feel bad about throwing it out."

"Gifts always have a meaning or an intention."

"Exactly, but the problem when people buy clothing for me is that they always seem to underestimate my size. They don't take these into account." She gestured to her chest, but then quickly felt embarrassed. "Anyways, it's just hard to find clothing that fits perfectly without having to alter it myself. It's a pain."

He made a sound of agreement, and she gave him a tight smile before the two of them returned to sorting the rest of her closet. They made conversation about neutral topics: clothes, _Inspector_ _Spacetime_ , weather, and the new Batman movie. Abed mostly talked while Annie nodded along, making the appropriate responses. Her thoughts were full, and she had to concentrate on breathing normally every time she looked up at him.

"Annie?"

"Yeah?"

"What's wrong?" he asked. "I just asked you if you wanted to be the barbarian princess, Reena, or Lily Taylor the next time we simulate _Inspector Spacetime_ in the Dreamtorium, and you said 'yes.'"

"Oh, sorry. I was just distracted." She bit her lip before she could confess that he was the distraction. "Why do I have to be a different Associate? Why can't I still be Geneva?"

"Because it's the end of her story arc. She returns home with her husband. She doesn't belong with the Inspector."

"I didn't think the Inspector belonged with anyone."

Abed shifted uncomfortably before answering. "Lily Taylor belonged with the Inspector; he loved her."

"Did he? He never actually said it though."

"The DVD commentary confirmed it; he actually whispered it in her ear at the end of the season."

Annie tucked away a stray piece of hair, feeling nervous about the way he was watching her. "But she doesn't stay with him."

"No," Abed said quietly. "She doesn't."

* * *

It was nearly Christmas, which meant exams and the end of another semester. The study group decided to do a Secret Santa Exchange this year so that those who couldn't afford to buy six gifts could still participate in the season of giving.

"Oh, please! Christmas is just another holiday designed by the soulless corporations to make people spend more money. It's purely materialism!" Britta complained.

"That's not true. Christmas is actually about the birth of our Lord and Saviour—" Shirley tried to interject, but was quickly interrupted by Britta.

"Shirley, don't even start! We're not going there again this year."

"For the record, there's a new strip club downtown that sells gift vouchers, just in case anyone had trouble thinking of a gift for me. Any and all will be welcomed," Pierce announced, looking proud of himself.

There were collective exclamations of disgust from around the table before everyone started talking at once. Shirley was telling Annie about her holiday plans while Troy and Abed talked about the advantages and disadvantages of re-released classic movies.

"Everybody shut up!" Jeff yelled. Everyone was immediately silent. "Let's just write our names down and draw. The quicker we finish, the quicker I can get out of here. I've got some place I need to be." Begrudgingly, they all put their names into the jar and passed it around. Only Britta had put up a small token of resistance, but she quickly stopped when the group glared at her.

When the jar got to Annie, she held her breath as she pulled out a name.

_Troy_

She breathed a sigh of relief. Troy would be easy to shop for; he'd been going on and on for a while about an _Inspector Spacetime_ telephone-booth-shaped cookie jar that he'd seen online. She peeked at everyone else's reactions. Most of them seemed puzzled, but Troy looked so miserable that he had to be the one that had pulled Pierce's name.

"Alright. We're done here." Jeff got up to leave, but before he could reach the door, he turned back around to face the study group. "One last thing: Shirley, no bibles. Pierce, no strippers." With that, he sauntered out of the library while the rest of the group slowly collected their things.

As they were walking out, Annie stared at the slip of paper that Abed still had clutched. She wondered who he'd drawn out, and her heart gave a small leap at the idea that it could be her.

* * *

They had the exchange in the study room on the last day of classes. The festivities had put Annie in cheerful mood for the last few days, and she was looking forward to seeing Troy open his present. She'd just barely managed to buy the cookie jar online; another buyer had swooped in at the last moment and nearly outbid her.

She was the last to arrive, and her gift went on the table with the rest of the other brightly wrapped parcels. "Annie was the last to arrive so I think it's only fair that whoever she picked gets to open first," Jeff announced.

She revealed who she'd picked out, and Troy excitedly grabbed his present and tore open the paper. "Woah! It's an exact replica of Inspector Spacetime's Model X7 Dimensioniser time booth! And it holds cookies! Just what I wanted! Awesome!" He hugged Annie so tightly that she thought he broke a rib.

Next, Troy handed Pierce his gift, muttering about how he had no idea what to the get the guy who already had everything **.** It turned out to be an electric blanket, which Annie thought was rather thoughtful, but Pierce seemed confused until Troy, very loudly, said, "I wasn't going to buy you a lap dance. Get over it."

Pierce surprised Shirley with a weekend getaway to nearby spa, shocking absolutely everyone with the normalness of his gift. However, that didn't last long. "I was going to get you plane tickets to Mexico. They have some really nice beaches down there," Pierce said.

"Aw, that so nice," Shirley said. "But I don't like being seen in public in a bathing suit."

"You wouldn't have had to worry about that. They're nude beaches!"

"Ugh," everyone cried as they were assaulted by the unwanted image.

Quickly moving on, they continued taking turns, each person opening the next gift and finding out who their Secret Santa was. After Abed unwrapped a new pair of pajamas from Shirley, she asked, "Abed, who did you have?"

He pulled out a large envelope and handed it to a confused Britta. "I've sponsored a child in Malawi for a year under Britta's name," he explained. "Her name is Samiatu. She's seven years old, and her favourite subject in school is Music."

Britta, flipping through the information packet, had her hand pressed against her mouth, like she was about to start crying. "Abed," she finally said. "Thank you so much."

Jeff was next and he also got an envelope from Britta, but the contents extracted a different response. "Really? A gift card?" he exclaimed. "Who gives a gift card to the campus bookstore for Secret Santa?"

"What? You're always complaining about how expensive textbooks are, so there you go! That'll help!"

Jeff raised his eyebrow. "You just Britta'd Secret Santa."

Britta protested, but everyone else was moving on. Annie was the last one to unwrap her gift; it appeared that it had been Jeff who had her name all along. It was a rich blue sweater, and when Annie held it up to herself, she marveled at how everything was the right length. "Thank you, Jeff," she said before she hugged him. "It's perfect."

Later, though, when she'd gotten over her excitement about a sweater that actually fit properly for once, she came to realize that it was too perfect.

* * *

"Jeff!" Annie ran to catch up with him just as he was exiting the building and headed towards the parking lot. "Wait!"

"I can't talk right now. I'm drained from that last exam."

"I need to talk to you about that sweater you got me." She jumped in front of him, blocking his path so he was forced to stop.

"No need to thank me again."

"No, that's not it. It fits me perfectly."

Jeff was confused. "Your point is…"

"How did you get my exact measurements? Whenever I shop for clothes, there's always something that doesn't fit quite right. There is no way that someone else shopping for me would get it right. Especially not a guy, and especially not you. No offense."

"Pfff, you know. I'm just that good," Jeff said, looking uncomfortable and scratching the back of his head, which Annie had learned to recognize as a nervous habit.

Annie imitated the expression he'd given to Britta earlier. "Jeff Winger," she said warningly.

He sighed. "Okay, fine. I actually got you this snow-globe instead. It was cute; it sang when you wound it up. You would have liked it, but I dropped it right before we were supposed to meet up. I didn't have time to get another gift. Abed said he happened to have an extra one in his locker because it was initially going to be Britta's present, but he realized that it wasn't going to fit her, so he gave me the sweater to give you so you would have a present too. You're welcome."

Annie was stunned, but recovered quickly. "Wait, but Britta doesn't even wear blue! Or sweaters like this!"

Jeff shrugged and brushed passed her, casually putting on his aviators. "Take it up with Abed."

* * *

By the time she got home that night, it was nearly seven. She tried to be quiet, especially when she saw that Troy had already fallen asleep in his seat, the TV still on, and his new cookie jar loosely cradled in his arms. Feeling nervous, she ducked into the blanket fort to find Abed half propped up in bed, reading a comic book on the bottom bunk. "Can I come in?" she asked timidly.

"Sure." He sat up. "What's up?"

She chose to stand, pulling nervously at her shirt sleeve. "Jeff told me about the sweater. It was actually from you."

"He wasn't supposed to tell."

She took a deep breath, trying to gather her courage. "You once told me that gifts have meanings attached to them. Did you mean anything?"

He was quiet; Annie was almost frightened of what his answer would be. "It matched your eyes," he finally said. "And you gave me a sweater before. I liked that."

"What about me? Do you like… me?"

He tilted his head as he considered the question. "The most logical answer would be for me to lie and there would be nothing more between us than friendship and mutual respect. But…"

"But what?"

His eyes narrowed, searching for an explanation to something inexplicable. "I never expected for this to happen. But, then again, plot twisters aren't meant to be foreseeable." He paused before continuing. "I'm the wise-cracking friend who's an outsider so I can make observations about the characters. You're the archetypal girl-next-door who ends up with the flawed, but well-intentioned, male lead. It's the predictable, but classic, plot used over and over again, but for a reason. No one wants to see the female lead to end up with someone who's going to make her miserable."

"You don't make me miserable. It's the opposite; you make me really happy." Realizing she was raising her volume and was in danger of waking Troy, she quickly lowered her voice again. "I don't want to end up with Jeff, or anybody else but you."

"You're optimistic, but it wouldn't work. I've run the simulations in the Dreamatorium. Two out of the three of trials were failures."

"What do you mean failures? How could you even simulate any of this?"

"In the first trial, we reveal to the group our new relationship, but your unavailable status causes Jeff's renewed interest in you, much like a child who wants a toy, but only if it belongs to someone else. Since Jeff was your first choice, you—"

"No!" Annie exclaimed before he could finish. "Abed, I would never do that to you. It's cruel, and I told you, I'm over Jeff."

"I thought about that. You've matured over the past year, and outgrown Jeff's indecisiveness. In the second simulation, we're like the protagonists at the end of any teenage movie after a large choreographed number: foolish and hopeful. We think we can take on the world, but over time, you realize that you were under an illusion the entire time. I can't relate to the world without some sort of medium like television or pop culture; I'm strange. I can't understand you, and you can't understand me. It frustrates you; you eventually leave."

"I wouldn't do that."

"That's what my mom said, and she left."

"I'm sorry," she said, unsure of what else to say. After a bout of silence again, she finally asked, "what about the third trial?"

"I don't know. It wouldn't process properly so the simulation crashed. It's not a failure, but it's not exactly a success either." She moved to sit down next to him, slowly taking his warm hand in hers. It was a bold move, and she could feel her own heartbeat speed up, afraid that he would pull back from her. "Lily Taylor loved the Inspector even if she didn't understand him, and he loved her back even though he doesn't have a heart." Then, borrowing the lines of Lily Taylor, she said, "I made my decision a long time ago, and I'm never going to leave you."

Playing along, he quoted the Inspector. "How long are you going to stay with me?"

"Forever."

He sighed. "This is reality. We're not a script, Annie."

"I know."

"Things will change. So many things could go wrong."

"Isn't finding out the best part though?"

When he didn't respond, she leaned in, hesitantly at first, and when he didn't stop her, she kissed him. This time was so different from their first shared kiss. Firstly, they weren't doomed to paintball death, and secondly, he wasn't Han Solo this time, just Abed who, like her, was insecure, awkward, and afraid.

She spoke first when they finally broke apart. "How's that for a successful third simulation?"

He smiled, but still looked unsure. "Everything will be different."

"I'll be with you the whole time."

"Really?"

"I promise."

She kissed him again, only this time, she was more confident. And as Abed cupped her cheek with his hand, he decided that he didn't mind being foolish and hopeful as long as he had Annie.

**Author's Note:**

> Quotes borrowed from Doctor Who.


End file.
